From the archive, 5 January 1968: Next time you want to hire a stuffed dodo

Although it had a touch of the Arabian Nights about it, an order to supply 75 mounted peacocks and 30,000 peacock tails did not surprise Mr Victor Pettitt, of Reedham, Norfolk.

It is what you expect when you're in the business of hiring stuffed animals and birds to film and television studios, theatres, department stores, fashion and advertising photographers, and trendy party givers.

Ask Mr Pettitt for a dodo — and he could oblige from stock. He made two when the London Electricity Board asked for one for a promotion campaign. It meant going to the Natural History Museum to look at their dodo — which is just as false as the two that were made in Mr Pettitt's rural industries workshop. The firm's taxidermist looked at the pictures of the London dodo, and then built one, using a turkey frame, synthetic glass beak, and hen-feathers dyed dodo-grey.

Mr Pettitt went into the hiring business 15 years ago, when one of the Cambridge colleges asked him to provide some ducks and swans (stuffed) to decorate a ball. A taxidermist was called. He began to teach one of Mr Pettitt's workers the art, and the business began to grow. Mr Pettitt was already in the feather trade when he turned to fur. His main business is a poultry packing station, and at one time he used to sell feathers to merchants for the bedding trade. When that declined he turned to feathercraft, which now keeps more than a dozen workers busy at Reedham — making hats, boas, feather dusters, fans, and even artificial flowers.

The hiring trade is fairly steady, and Mr Pettitt has solved the problem of storage by running a natural history museum alongside his workshop. Unless the order is unusual — like the dodo — he can just select from stock.

For three guineas you can hire a stuffed fox for a fortnight — "very popular at hunt balls." Fallow deer — about the largest items in stock — run at 12 guineas, and do well with the big stores for fashion or Christmas displays.

Mr Pettitt said yesterday that the firm's taxidermist could handle anything up to horse-size, and thought he would dearly like to have a go at an elephant. One difficulty was getting the right kind of specimens. They were usually obtained from zoos, which sent out lists of their casualties. Some recent prices include £4 for a king penguin, £3 for a stork, and £5 for a dingo.

That order for the 75 peacocks for an extravaganza stumped Mr Pettitt slightly. He could supply only 25, but he had no difficulty with the peacock tails — he keeps 40 live peacocks — and just saves the feather trimmings.

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